LBY3
The continuing adventures of Beau Yarbrough

Failoc-alypse

Saturday, May 30, 2009, 10:34
Section: Geek

World of WarcraftWell, I didn’t manage to get Blizzcon 2009 tickets for me and my dad on the second try this morning (I will hopefully be able to get a press pass for me, at least), but Blizzard did have a fun way to pass the time: The Flash-based game Failoc-alypse, where Blizzard characters slaughter the “failocs” (guys dressed up in Murloc costumes from Blizzcon 2007, which was shown when people failed to get tickets last time) in front of the Anaheim Convention Center, where Blizzcon is held.

I played as a Draenei death knight, but Starcraft lead character Jim Raynor and a Diablo III witch doctor were also available.

Not as good as tickets, obviously, but a cute way to pass the time, and poke fun at last year’s disastrous ticket-selling procedures, which were greatly improved on this time around … even if I didn’t get tickets.



Twenty-two months

Tuesday, May 26, 2009, 17:27
Section: Life

Posted with my iPhone, using the WordPress app, so excuse any funkiness.

This is James at Timberlane Park on Memorial Day, puzzling out the mysteries of the water fountain.



Frank Lloyd Wright Legos

Friday, May 22, 2009, 9:39
Section: Geek

OK, sure, Fallingwater and the Guggenheim are somewhat over-hyped (or outright triumphs of design over actual utility), but that doesn’t mean that these Frank Lloyd Wright Lego sets aren’t super-cool.

I’d love to see a Chrysler Building Lego set some day.



Jonathan Coulton – “Skullcrusher Mountain”

Tuesday, May 19, 2009, 13:00
Section: Arts & Entertainment,Geek


(more…)



WSJ’s staff rules for using Twitter

Friday, May 15, 2009, 6:04
Section: Journalism

I was tipped to this by my brother: The Wall Street Journal’s staff has gotten a memo from their deputy managing editor, telling them how to blog and use social media, including Twitter. There’s a big push on for this in the newspaper industry, and we’ve recently blown the dust off the Hesperia Star’s Twitter site, although it’s still not something I remember to do automatically.

(That’s party because of the need to open a second tab for TinyURL or a comparable site to create short links. It’d be nice if our content management software that we use to publish our Web stories would automatically create Twitter posts, complete with a TinyURL when a post was made.) (And, as some people know, I’m not wild about TinyURL-type services — I dislike the lack of transparency about where they lead, by default — but I accept the necessity of them on Twitter.)

Anyway, most of the rules are the obvious — don’t get into fights with readers, remember you’re always representing the company, don’t recruit shills or use a false name when discussing your stories, etc. — but there’s an odd one that I frankly just don’t get:

Let our coverage speak for itself, and don’t detail how an article was reported, written or edited.

Really? OK, sure, don’t say “well, my story was awesome until it was edited into pablum,” but isn’t that covered under remembering that you represent the company? Maybe I’m missing something, but I think that a discussion of how you covered something, and why you made the choices that you did, is a pretty valid — and harmless — thing to discuss.


 








Copyright © Beau Yarbrough, all rights reserved
Veritas odit moras.